Dive Brief:

• Bacardi unveiled a new music- and dance-focused campaign ahead of summer with the tagline "Do What Moves You," according to news made available to Marketing Dive. 
• The campaign features a 60-second spot set to a track by DJ group Major Lazer and showing a group of dancers enjoying a rum-filled night in the Caribbean. Dancers in the spot are shown only from the waist down, conveying a different vibe through the movement and expression of their hips, legs and feet.
• The video was directed by Tom Kuntz and choreographed by Rich&Tone with five professional dancers from Los Angeles, Miami, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Mexico. The shop MJZ handled production. The campaign, made with agency BBDO New York, also includes a dance-themed out-of-home activation and a musical social activation that will debut later this summer. 

Dive Insight:

Bacardi joins a growing list of marketers including H&M, Crocs, Rag & Bone, Apple and Uniqlo that are marketing their brands through dance-centric campaigns. By focusing solely on movement and not showing any of the performers' faces, the rum maker is taking a more kinetic, expression-driven approach that could create an emotional connection and inspire people to live up to brand's tagline, "Do What Moves You."   

A blend of music and digital elements has been at the center of Bacardi's marketing strategy for several years now. The rum brand teamed up with the producer Swizz Beatz in 2016 on an Instagram Stories campaign featuring a virtual DJ setup and launched a Snapchat campaign last summer with Major Lazer that included a set of sponsored lenses and a music video. Tom Kuntz, who directed the latest spot, is also well-known for his quirky TV ads and music videos for bands like MGMT. More brands are experimenting with different, non-traditional video formats as completion rates on video ads tend to run higher when compared to other digital ads.

Bacardi's approach is in-line with how other alcohol and spirits brands are trying to build lifestyle- or experience-driven strategies to engage younger consumers. Rival rum brand Captain Morgan recently launched a Facebook and Spotify campaign, titled "#LiveLikeACaptain," that partnered with the grime artist Lady Lehsurr with the goal of reaching 18- to 24-year-old consumers in the U.K.